Enbridge gets EPA approval for 2012 oil spill cleanup plans

A view of cleanup work along the Kalamazoo River near Battle Creek in August, 2010

(photo by Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio)

The EPA this week gave approval to Enbridge Energy’s plans for continuing its cleanup of an oil spill in the Kalamazoo River. The plan suggests major cleanup operations may change next year.

More than 840 thousand gallons of crude oil spewed from a broken pipeline near Marshall in July, 2010. The exact amount remains in dispute.

Hundreds of workers have spent the past 17 months removing the oil from the river.

Jason Manshum is an Enbridge spokesman. He says Enbridge’s plans for 20-12 include assessing how much submerged oil remains in the Kalamazoo River.

“That will determine…along with…looking at the science data we’re receiving…how much work …if any.. needs to be done…going into the summer and fall 2012," says Manshum.

That could mean scaling back the cleanup operation. However, state and federal environmental regulators will have the final say on when the oil spill cleanup will be complete.

In the meantime, Enbridge crews continue to remove oil from wetland areas this winter. And in the Spring, Enbridge crews will resume efforts to remove submerged oil from three different segments of the river.

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There’s a new estimate of the amount of oil that’s been sucked out of the Kalamazoo River. And it’s higher than the amount of oil Enbridge Energy claims leaked from its pipeline 16 months ago.

Enbridge Energy claims a little more than 843 thousand gallons of crude oil leaked from its pipeline near Marshall in July, 2010. But the Environmental Protection Agency says it has recovered more than 1.1 million gallons of oil from the Kalamazoo River during the 16 month cleanup. The EPA says it’s still investigating how much oil leaked from Enbridge’s pipeline.

It’s been more than a month since an estimated 800,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Kalamazoo River. Enbridge Energy Partners, the company responsible for the pipeline leak, says it has cleaned up about 700,000 gallons of that oil.

But there’s still a lot of work to be done. The EPA is just now starting to find out how much oil is at the bottom of the river.

The new estimate was part of paperwork Enbridge Energy filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company says it’s revising its estimated cleanup costs, from $585 million to $700 million. That's about a 20 percent increase.

“The cleanup cost to date includes some additional work around submerged oil….and those recovery operations….and just some more active remediation of the impacted environment." says Terri Larson, an Enbridge spokeswoman, "So there are a few factors that are at play within that expected increase.”